Grading

Percent

Due date

Homework

15%

various

Glossary

10%

4/27/98

Term Paper

20%

5/4/98

Midterm Exam

20%

3/11/98

Final Exam

35%

5/13/98

Exams

There will be two exams during the semester. Both exams will
have an in-class part and either may have a take-home portion.
The midterm exam will be given on Wednesday, March 11 (the class
meeting just prior to Spring Break). The final exam will be given
in the regularly scheduled exam period on Wednesday, May 13 from
5:30 to 7:30 in the evening. The midterm exam will count 20% of
your grade while the final exam will count 35% of your grade.

Homework

Homework assignments will be made throughout the semester.
These will count 15% toward your grade.

Homework assignments are to be completed on an individual
basis. You are welcome to discuss the material with other people;
however, the homework solutions must be your own.

All homework assignments must be turned in using email.

Glossary

Each student is required to a glossary that provides
definitions for 30-35 terms related to distributed operating
systems. These should be terms that were unfamiliar to you before
the start of this class. Your definitions should be short (a
couple of sentences) and should reference related terms.

The glossaries are due before the start of class on Monday,
April 27 and will count for 10% of your grade. Like the homework
assignments, glossaries must be completed on an individual basis
and must be turned in using email.

Term Paper

Each student is required to write a 10-15 (typeset, single
spaced, with standard margins) page paper that surveys one aspect
of current research in operating systems. The paper should
present your interpretation of the approaches taken by at least
two related research activities (i.e., approaches taken by two
different research groups.). If there are more than two groups
working on the problem, you should briefly mention the approaches
taken by all groups, but do not need to give in-depth coverage to
more than two groups.

Each term paper is to be written by an individual student. I
am primarily interested in your interpretation of the research.
All quoted material (whether taken from a Web site or paper) must
be appropriately attributed. Moreover, quoted material should be
used appropriately. That is, quoted material should not
constitute a significant portion of your paper.

You are required to turn in a one page summary of your term
paper by March 30, 1998. This summary should include a brief
description of the research activity that you plan to survey along
with citations for six reference materials (a mix of published
papers and Web sites).

Using email

You are to use email to turn in any take-home portions of
exams, homework assignments, your glossary, and your term paper.
If you need (or want) to use anything other than plain text, you
must use Postscript which can be viewed using ghostview.

Requirements

Every student is required to turn in a term paper. In
addition, all students must attend the final exam (or have an
appropriately signed medical excuse). Failure to meet these
requirements will result in a failing grade for the class.

If a student misses the in-class portion of the midterm exam,
the student's grade on the in-class portion of the final exam will
be in place of the grade for the in-class portion of the midterm
exam.

Missing homework or glossary will result in lost points.

Late homework assignments or glossaries will not be
accepted.

Any changes to these policies will be announced in class and
posted to the Web page.